Ink Jet Nozzle Group Segmentation for Print Quality and Waste Reduction

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Image forming apparatuses face challenges in maintaining print quality and reducing ink waste by ensuring reliable ink ejection from ink jet nozzles without unnecessary ink consumption.

Innovation Solution

The apparatus determines an image width and mandatorily ejects ink from a specific group of ink jet nozzles before forming an image, storing this width for future reference, ensuring that all necessary nozzles are maintained and reducing waste by only ejecting ink when necessary.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If ink is mandatorily ejected from all ink jet nozzles before forming an image, then print quality is maintained, but ink waste increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprint qualityVSAvoidink waste

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the ink jet nozzles into two groups: a first group of nozzles that mandatorily eject ink before image formation, and a second group of nozzles that do not mandatorily eject ink. This segmentation allows selective maintenance of nozzle groups, ensuring print quality from the first group while reducing ink waste by excluding the second group from mandatory ejection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If ink is mandatorily ejected from ink jet nozzles, then nozzle maintenance is ensured, but unnecessary ink consumption occurs

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenozzle maintenanceVSAvoidink consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments nozzles into those requiring mandatory ejection for maintenance (first group) and those that do not (second group). The controller circuit is configured to mandatorily eject ink only from the first group before image formation, ensuring necessary nozzle maintenance while avoiding unnecessary ink consumption from the second group.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Adaptability or versatility

If the number of ink jet nozzles is increased to cover larger image widths, then printing capability is improved, but mandatory ejection complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprinting capabilityVSAvoidejection control complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the large number of ink jet nozzles into a first group and a second group based on their positioning relative to the image width. The controller circuit selectively controls the first group to mandatorily eject ink while excluding the second group, simplifying the control logic compared to managing all nozzles uniformly, thus reducing ejection control complexity while maintaining the ability to handle large image widths.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS11135855B2Image forming apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable recording medium that records image forming program

Publication Date: 2021.10.05 KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS INC

AI summary

An image forming apparatus includes: a line head including multiple ink jet nozzles arrayed in a line direction; a storage device; and a controller circuit configured to determine an image width, the image width being a width of an image to be formed in the line direction, mandatorily eject ink from an ink jet nozzle group before forming the image, the ink jet nozzle group including multiple ink jet nozzles used to form the image having the image width out of the multiple ink jet nozzles, and store the image width in the storage device as a mandatory ejection width.